


Monster With A Human SOUL

by washi



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Handplates (Undertale), Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 17:29:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22219669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/washi/pseuds/washi
Summary: After coming face to face with an anomaly from outside of time and space, Dr W.D. Gaster can no longer bring himself to experiment with subjects 1-S and 2-P. Uncertain how to go forward, he finds himself looking over his notes again, edging on career suicide.Then he has an idea. A new experiment, one that he will have no emotional bond with. An abomination.A monster with a human SOUL.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33





	1. Was it worth it?

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fan story of the [Handplates AU](https://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/139516306171/okay-i-get-a-lot-of-questions-about-what-order-the) by [zarla-s](https://zarla-s.tumblr.com/) in which Gaster makes some ... poor decisions.
> 
> This story takes place shortly after the events seen in [this update](https://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/161872269398/previous-next-after-trying-for-so-long-to)

_Was it worth it?_

Doctor W.D. Gaster sat at his desk, staring at his notes and chain smoking cigarettes.

He had pulled out everything from the experiments with 1-S and 2-P. Every note, every scrap on their creation and development.

It was over. He couldn’t bring himself to experiment on the children any longer.

The words the … _thing_ had said played in his head as he lifted one sheet of notes and looked at it without truly seeing it.

_You have such interest in the future, but it has very little interest in you. Every thing you’ve worked on, every thing you’ve created … none of it needs you, and none of it will remember you when you’re gone._

**_Was it worth it?_ **

Months of work, and what had he accomplished? He had lost his ability to heal, he had pushed away everyone who had ever believed in him, and he had utterly failed to find a solution to the problem of the barrier and the human SOULs.

_Was it worth it?_

He sighed, pushing the papers and printouts away. The screen of his computer had long since turned off from disuse. His coffee mug and packet of cigarettes were both empty. He ran his hands over his skull, taking his glasses off and rubbing at his eye sockets.

He should go home. The subjects had been fed, and he was wasting time here. He knew he wouldn’t get anything done.

_Was it worth it?_

He looked to the mess on his desk, debating between cleaning up and just leaving for the night. Neither option was particularly compelling, but he needed sleep. With a shrug and a sigh he dragged himself to the bedroom in the lab, opting to spend the night there instead of making the long trek back to Snowdin.

His eye passed over a book that had been left on the side table, the human book that had started this entire mess. Homunculi. With a scowl he picked the book up and dropped it in the drawer, slamming it shut in frustration.

_Was it worth it?_

He lay down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, and tried to will his exhausted head to stop thinking about the _thing_ and what it had said. He tried to sleep.

But something else started to grow in his mind. A new thought, a new … experiment.

The idea of the Homunculi was still intriguing. A simulated SOUL, a false being. A non-sapient being that could be molded to the creator’s desire. Of course, now he knew better. The actual creations were sapient, capable of thought and reason.

But the ones he had made were monsters, made from the SOUL of a monster.

Gaster sat upright, fatigue banished as his mind started working in earnest.

What if the SOUL were mostly human instead? Would the creature still be sapient? Would it have form? Being made of magic, monsters were connected to their SOULs in a way humans weren’t.

Perhaps … Perhaps he could try again.

He would need to gather the materials - but he _could_ do it all again. His body and SOUL were damaged from the first two experiments, but he didn’t need to follow the procedures exactly.

He would do it differently this time. He had learned much from 1-S and 2-P, he knew now what mistakes he had made with them. He could avoid the same pitfalls, the same traps.

He even had a physical sample to use - a shard of bone suspended in MD solution, or perhaps some marrow, something from one - or even both - of the first two subjects. He needn’t damage his own body further.

He could convince Asgore to give him access to the six human SOULs, and he could extract a fraction from each in the same way that he had torn his own SOUL apart. He wouldn’t even need that much.

And if he used a small piece of his own SOUL, then the simulated SOUL would be both monster and human.

It might be able to pass the barrier all on its own.

_He could try again._

And while the creature might look like a monster, he would know the truth.

It would be _human._

It would be everything he hated, the same sort of creature that had destroyed his race, that had murdered nearly everyone he had cared for and loved.

He wouldn’t have to worry about caring for it.

_It would be worth it._


	2. W.D. Gaster's Personal Journal




	3. Lab Notes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I take some of my Skeleton and SOUL Anatomy from [Zeragii](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zeragii/pseuds/Zeragii), particularly what they have shared in their [War Crimes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17611541/chapters/41518514) fanfic.

[Image Description]

Entry [Redacted]

Artificial Soul Designation: **SUBJECT 3**

**Materials**

  * .5 grams of each human Soul
  * .5 grams of donor monster Soul
  * Skull Fragment from Subject 1, extracted [Redacted] weeks ago and preserved with MD Solution and refrigeration
  * Modified Soul Capsule with 5000cc of MD Solution



**Soul Composition**

  * **Monster:** 10%, Source: W.D. Gaster
  * **PT** 18%, Source: Light Blue Soul
  * **BR** 10%, Source: Orange Soul
  * **IN** 16%, Source: Blue Soul
  * **PR** 12%, Source: Purple Soul
  * **KN** 18%, Source: Green Soul
  * **JS** 8%, Source: Yellow Soul
  * **DT** 8%, Source: Unknown



**Soul Measurements**

  * **Approximate Mass:** 4 grams
  * **Width:** 3cm
  * **Height:** 1cm



**Appearance**

Subject 3 has the standard appearance of a human Soul. Cleft and Bells at the top, Peak at the bottom. Within the Core there is a shadow of a monster SOUL - Cleft and Bells at the bottom with the Peak pointing upward. Soul pulses with light and color, shifting through the colors of the component human Souls, along with the red DT.

**Physical Form**

After the skull fragment broke down it adhered to the artificial Soul, forming a physical boundary. This boundary is currently permeable, mostly made of pure magic, and has a near crystalline appearance.

Everything is proceeding as expected, although the spontaneous creation of DT in the Soul was unexpected. The evidence of both human and monster Souls is also promising, as this might prove to be a way to bypass the barrier.

[End Image Description]


	4. Life and Growth

* * *

The doctor led 2-P into one of the larger workrooms of the lab, one that the young skeleton had not been in for a long time. Gaster beckoned for the boy to sit at the table, and placed a small stack of papers in front of him.

"Fill these out," Gaster said.

2-P nodded and began working.

But it didn't take him long to get distracted.

On one side of the room, the far side from the entryway, there was a large tube filled with the viscous blue liquid Gaster called "MD Solution," and the machines near it hummed with power.

He hadn't noticed at first, but he now saw there was something small in the middle of the tube. Something small, curled in on itself.

The boy tried to contain his curiosity, tried to focus on the assignments in front of him, but his attention kept drifting to the tube and its contents. Something at the back of his thoughts kept pulling him back to it.

"What is that?" he finally asked the doctor, pointing to the tube.

Gaster followed the child's finger, then turned to him with a shrug. "Nothing of importance, just an experiment."

He wrote something down in his notes, and 2-P looked back to the tube.

"Can I go look at it?"

"No." Gaster said, voice firm. "You will finish the work I gave you."

The child nodded and went back to work, but the gentle pull on his thoughts and SOUL distracted him, and he could think of little else.

"Maybe I could help with the experiment?"

"No."

The young skeleton looked down with a frown, then turned a page.

The words were blurry, and difficult to read, and he had trouble understanding them. He hated when the puzzles and tests he was given were words. He was much better with pictures or physically _doing_ puzzles. Sitting and trying to read gave him a headache and made him feel … well … stupid.

All that on top of his very SOUL being pulled toward the creature in the tube made it nearly impossible for him to focus on the worksheets in front of him.

"Can I - "

"You can finish your work or go back to your cell. Those are your options," Gaster said, cutting the boy off with a raised hand and a low voice.

2-P frowned, but nodded as he slid off the chair. He wasn't going to be able to concentrate, and while he knew it would disappoint the doctor, he didn't really see a reason to give himself a headache if he had the choice not to.

"I'd like to go back, then. Please."

Gaster sighed at him, but led the boy back to the cell, all the while making notes on his clipboard.

* * *

Gaster took 1-S into the same large workroom, placing copies of the same worksheets in front of the boy as he clambered up onto the chair.

"Fill these out," he said again as he took his own seat to observe and take notes.

1-S nodded silently and began.

The boy had been quiet lately, apparently trying to avoid upsetting the doctor in any way. While the two subjects had enjoyed a reprieve from the more ... intense experiments Gaster had made them endure, 1-S seemed to suspect that they would start up at any time.

He didn't know, and couldn't understand, why they had stopped in the first place.

Granted, Gaster wasn't entirely certain _he_ could explain his apparent change of heart himself.

Still, it was a little surprising for the small skeleton to glance at the tube across the room, but not _say anything about it_. He would look over, stare for a minute or two, then go back to his worksheets. If the obvious distraction hadn’t been there, Gaster would have assumed he was just thinking through one of the problems.

Even then, he didn't even seem to focus on the tube or its contents while looking at it.

The scientist had expected questions and curiosity from the small skeleton, not apparent indifference.

"Done," 1-S said about two hours later, as he pushed the pen and papers away from himself.

"Very well, you can go back to your cell," Gaster said, standing to escort the boy back to the room he shared with his brother.

The doctor purposely glanced at the tube, trying to get a reaction from 1-S, but the boy just slid off the chair and waited patiently and silently.

With an internal sigh, the doctor took 1-S back to his cell, then returned to the workroom to look over the worksheets his subjects had completed, and to monitor the growing specimen in the tube.

* * *

The brothers didn't talk much until the lights went off. It was the only time they felt safe enough to talk about things privately - although that had become less true to them after the blue magic incident. Regardless, they often waited to talk about important things until they believed the doctor had gone for the day.

Instead they spent the rest of the day playing bone tossing games and drawing with the paper and pens the doctor had given them.

Then the lights went off, and the cell was illuminated only by the forcefield of the door. 1-S stretched and pushed the paper he had been writing on away, then began moving toward the bench to cuddle with his brother.

2-P, with eagerness and excitement bubbling over all at once, turned to his brother and in a burst asked, "Brother! Did you see the thing?"

"The MD solution? Yeah," 1-S said as he began to untangle the blanket from itself.

"There's something in it!" 2-P said, eager to hear his brother’s thoughts on the matter. He came over to the bench to help with the blanket, easily unwinding it.

"Yeah," the smaller skeleton said softly with a small, distracted nod. He had noticed the tiny skeleton floating, curled around itself and floating in the tube. He wondered what Gaster was planning.

"Could you tell what it was?" 2-P asked as he climbed up on the bench, holding his arms open for his brother.

"It was a skeleton, bro," 1-S said. He leaned his head against his brother’s chest, closing his eyes and feeling the thrum of his SOUL, feeling himself relax into the embrace.

The taller skeleton frowned in confusion, "Why does he have another skeleton? He said it was another experiment."

1-S shrugged, uncertain what any of this meant and head full of questions.

Why was Gaster no longer experimenting on him or his brother?

Why was there a new skeleton apparently being grown in the MD Solution?

Why was Gaster giving them comfort items to keep in their cell?

Why had Gaster wanted to see their reactions to this new 'experiment'?

The question piled up in his mind, and he shook his head to try to clear it. He mostly succeeded, except for three questions that kept coming to the forefront of his mind.

Why was Gaster making another subject?

Was Gaster planning to replace him and his brother?

If he did, _what would happen to them_?

"Did it pull at your SOUL?" The taller skeleton asked, his voice soft. The question tugged the smaller of the brothers from his thoughts.

"Yeah, it did," he admitted. "Every so often, it felt like something was reaching out to pull on me. It felt ... familiar."

"It was very distracting," 2-P whined. "I couldn't do the worksheets because of it."

The smaller skeleton shrugged again, curling close to his brother and pulling the quilt over them. "I didn't notice it that much. It _was_ pretty, though."

"Pretty?"

"Yeah. It kept shifting colors," 1-S explained. "Every time I looked at it, it was different."

"It was glowing?" the taller skeleton asked. He hadn’t noticed any colors, but his brother was the one with an eye for detail, not him, and he often missed things that the smaller skeleton saw. It often seemed like the little skeleton saw _everything_ , a trait which 2-P found himself both proud and a bit envious of.

1-S shook his head, and placed a hand over his own chest. "No ... It was ... I think it was its SOUL? It pulsed with light and it shifted through a bunch of colors. It was ... kinda mesmerizing."

2-P frowned, "I didn't notice anything like that."

"Don't worry, bro," 1-S said, taking his brother's hand in his own. "I'm sure you'll see it next time."

Then he yawned and was asleep, with 2-P not far behind.


	5. W.D. Gaster's Personal Journal; Lab Report

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanting to mention, I also have this up on Tumblr [here](http://wdg3h.tumblr.com/), which I also plan to keep updated with information about late posts and the like. Hopefully late posts won't happen too often, but if you're curious to keep up to date, check me out over there!


End file.
